Page 38 of In the Line of Ire

"We'reon the case. Didn't Delgado tell you?"

"Antonio,"she corrected me since she adamantly refused to abbreviate his nameto Tony or use his family name like everyone else did, "told me aninvestigation was being launched. I still don't have my purse orthe money I spent on it. I had to tell my husband I was ripped off.What's happening?"

"As soonas we find out something, we'll either get you your purse or a fullrefund. You don't need to worry. Just be patient."

"Patient? Huh." I waited for Serena to complain, sincepatience wasn't her strong point. "Huh," she said again. "Okay. Letme know what happens."

"Iwill," I replied, slightly astounded that she didn't yell at me towork harder, faster, and more efficiently.

"Can youbabysit weekend after next?" she asked.

"I thinkso," I said. "Depends on how long this case lasts."

Serenadrew in a breath. "It's not a problem if you can't but I hope youcan. Also, we could, maybe, have lunch sometime."

I pulled a face at my phone.Who wasthis woman impersonating my sister?Icouldn't remember the last time she suggested eating lunchtogether. "That sounds great," I said.

"Okaythen," said Serena before she hung up.

I took amoment to ponder the weirdness of her overly polite call as I shookmy head. Sometimes my over-achieving, anxiety-inducing older sisterwas just an enigmatic mystery. I could only hope that herrelatively polite demeanor wasn't because our mother recentlyinformed her I was about to become the latest divorcée.

Since Iwas early for my undercover work at Page's, I decided to headtowards Heavenly Handbags instead. As I rounded the corner, Inodded to Delgado when I spotted him strolling past in his mall copuniform. He returned my nod with the smallest one he could manageand carried on. The store shutters were rolled up and two staffmembers in burgundy-colored dresses were already occupying thespace. All signs of a police investigation were gone as if therenever was a murder.

"Hi," Isaid, entering and walking over to the pair of women. "I came inhere a few days ago. I just started working at the mall and I heardwhat happened. I wanted to say how sorry I am about yourfriend."

"We'redevastated," sniffled the taller of the pair. She pulled a tissuefrom her pocket and dabbed her eyes, careful not to smudge hereyeliner.

"It'sbeen awful," said the other woman. Her dress was the same clingystyle as her colleague's but long-sleeved with a turtle neck. A pinidentified her as the manager, Sherri.

"I heardAlison was murdered! My brother's a cop," I added, without sayingthat he was also in charge of the investigation. "That's justhorrible. Do they know who did it?"

"No, notyet."

"Itcould have been me! Alison offered to shut the store for me so Icould leave a few minutes early when my husband picked me up thatday. If we hadn't swapped..." sniffed her colleague, Amanda. Iremembered she was the woman who spoke to me when Lily and I firstchecked out the store.

Sherrirubbed Amanda’s shoulder sympathetically, adding, "You can't blameyourself like that. He was looking for her, no oneelse."

"He?" Iasked, perking up when my curiosity piqued.

"Alison's boyfriend. Her ex-boyfriend. They just brokeup."

"And youthink he killed her?" I gasped, laying it on.

Amandanodded. "Oh, yes. He was here an hour before closing. Remember,Sherri? He wanted to talk to Alison about the breakup and sherefused. Then he started getting antsy and told her she'd regret itbefore saying she’d be lucky if he ever took her back!"

"Hebroke upwithher?" Iasked. "Why would he come back to pester her if he broke up withher?"

"Hedidn't. She broke up with that loser."

"He wasalways at her for this and that. She wanted a better life and hewas fully content to park his butt on the couch every night andplay video games," said Amanda.

"Someguys can't take being dumped," added Sherri.

"And youthink he came back to the store to kill her?"

"Whoelse could it be?" asked Amanda. "Nothing was stolen. She was finewhen we left and then later that day the mall manager called andtold us what happened. To think there was a huge rat spotted nearthe stores too! Pest control were the ones who discovered poorAlison. Can you believe it?"

"If theyhadn't, she could have been lying there all night," said Sherri."We're collecting condolence cards for the family from herfriends."

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